Some of you know I lost my husband and my only child, a son, in the same year. In the intervening 4 years, I have remarried, he and I are busy seeing all we can see while we are in our seventies. Our last trip included Biltmore. I had toured this home twice before. He had never seen it. As a retired carpenter,he was very interested in the skills displayed in the house... as a person who saw it at $20 a head, and at $40 a head, I was dismayed to have to pay $62 a head this time around.

Oh - they've been very busy there. The parking is now 3 miles from the house. There are shuttles... You no longer can explore the entire... just these certain rooms, and once you've paid the $62 you need to pay an additional $10 for an audio recording explaining what you're seeing. And... as you enter one narrow corridor, there is the inevitable picture opportunity, another $10 or more - for those who are too intimidated to refuse...

And you have to wonder, as you lag behind other tourists, what did the Vanderbilts ever accomplish in their lives?

How is it that the 4th - 5th - or 6th generation needs to charge average Joe types $62 to see how they lived in their unbelievable wealth?

Maybe I got up on the wrong side of the bed that morning, but I ended the day being angry with myself for allowing the fleecing.

shilty